Telemachy Summaries
The Search for the Father
The Power of Hate
Athena asks Zeus to set Odysseus free. Poseidon, who hates Odysseus, does not want him to be freed. Zeus sends Hermes to liberate Odysseus. Athena goes to Ithaca to council Telemachus. She encourages him to stand up to the suitors. She also tells him that his father will return. Telemachus contemplates the journey he must take.
The Almighty Curse
Telemachus called together an assembly of the Ithacan men to discuss how suitors who want to marry his mother are eating him out of house and home. Antinous then was angered and blamed Penelope for leading them all on and lying about her weaving, and told him that he should send her away to marry. Telemachus then said that he cannot cast his own mother out without getting cursed. He then said that he will find a ship and find word of his father’s being, and will handle the circumstances accordingly to what he hears (alive-wait; dead-funeral.) The assembly was closed and the suitors went back to Odysseus’s house where they mocked Telemachus. Telemachus prayed to Athena for guidance and asked for a crew and ship. Athena then turned into Telemachus and went through the town and recruited sailors and got a ship, and that night Telemachus, Athena, and his crew set sail into the night.
Honesty is the Best Policy
Telemachus and Athena arrived in Pylos, Nestor’s great city. Athena encourages Telemachus to go to talk to Nestor about any news that he has seen or heard of his father. Nestor was completely honest with Telemachus and told him that he did not have any news because their ships got separated and one boat had an easy smooth trip, and the other had a very rough trip. Nestor does, though, tell Telemachus to go to Menelaus for more news on his father.
Recognition
Helen recognizes Telemachus’s resemblance to Odysseus. She pours a potion into the wine to ease everyone’s grief. Helen and Menelaus exchange stories about Odysseus at the palace. Back in Ithaca, the suitors learn of Telemachus’s trip and plan an ambush on him. Penelope overheard their plot.